Hi all,
I just thought I'd point out, for argument's sake, that HD audio doesn't need to be achieved via HDMI. It can also be achieved via 7.1 analogue inputs again with the HD player doing the decoding.
See here for more information:
http://www.dolby.com/consumer/techno...HD_avrs_1.html
Of course this has the obvious disadvantage that you would need up to 4 pairs of analogue cables instead of just one neat HDMI cable...
R